


All Bacon is Important

by oneatatime



Category: Power Rangers Megaforce, Power Rangers Wild Force
Genre: Hope this is okay, I love these teams, I mushed together two prompts, Multi, poly teams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 14:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19427635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneatatime/pseuds/oneatatime
Summary: “I’ve insulted Merrick a great deal,” Shayla said thoughtfully, as the little breeze playing around them ruffled her hair. “Do you think that means he knows I like him?”





	All Bacon is Important

**Author's Note:**

  * For [diamondforger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondforger/gifts).



**2002**

It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun was low in the sky, and there was just enough bite in the air. Perfect day for flying. Perfect day for spending with your enormous Eagle Zord. 

Taylor shifted along and began work on another set of feathers. Eagle Zord wasn’t exactly an eagle, and didn’t exactly need Taylor’s help with grooming her entire self, which was good because it would’ve taken days. But they both liked the contact, and she could feel Eagle Zord’s pleasure thrumming at the back of her mind. Princess Shayla stood near the oak tree, ten or so feet from the edge of the cliff, peering out over the Animarium. 

She was always good company. Grounding. Reminded Taylor of what it was like back in the beginning, when it was just the two of them fighting the Orgs. One of the things she liked about Shayla was the way that they could pick up the thread of a conversation after minutes of restful silence. 

“How did it work for you and Eric?” Shayla asked, settling down next to Taylor gracefully. She did everything gracefully. She moved like dancing, with the fabric of her long, delicate dress swirling around her. Taylor admired it, but often wondered how Princess Shayla managed to keep it so clean and white. She knew she herself would do just fine, naturally. But other members of her team would wipe corn chip fingers on the front within about five seconds of putting it on. 

She amused herself for a moment with the thought of Max in a dress like that. (Max could wear a dress if he wanted, but in this one he’d complain and trip over the hem a lot, and he’d be _sulking_. She didn’t judge his clothing choices.) 

(Just his personality.)

Taylor gave her a smile, then frowned a little as she remembered. She put down the oil, picked up the big iridescent comb and kept working on her Eagle’s wingfeathers. Eagle gave a little purr-chirrup of pleasure. 

“He gave me a ticket, I yelled at him, he yelled back, we insulted each other, he stole my book and we fought together. He saved my bacon and I saved his. I showed him how to use his weapon.” 

Perhaps it wasn’t quite as romantic as she was thinking of, but it’d worked for them. She cringed as her ears caught up with her mouth about the last line. If it was anyone but Shayla, there’d be jokes about that for months. 

“I’ve insulted Merrick a great deal,” Shayla said thoughtfully, as the little breeze playing around them ruffled her hair. “Do you think that means he knows I like him?” 

Taylor knew she wasn’t great with people and couldn’t always figure out emotional implications (and to be fair, often she didn’t care), but she could see Shayla running up to Merrick and insulting his hair. Which could be catastrophic. The last thing they needed was another tiff between these two. She said hastily, “Maybe with Merrick, you need to think more about how things were for you and Alyssa.”

* * *

Cole squeezed Merrick’s shoulder, and stepped back. The guy had a right to not want Cole in his personal space; everyone had a right to choose, after all.

“Princess Shayla, right? That’s who you want?” 

Merrick blinked at him, and seemed to come back from wherever he’d gone in his head. “…n-no. It wouldn’t be proper. But you and me…” 

Cole found himself shoved against the rock wall not far from their sleeping quarters, with Merrick’s lips on his. It was one of Merrick’s few visits to the Animarium, and Cole decided breathlessly he _really_ wanted to encourage Merrick to come up more often. 

Cole growled under his breath, as Red Lion rumbled his pleasure somewhere in the distance. 

It was a good kiss, and he beamed at Merrick as the other man stepped back, both panting. Cole was enjoyably lightheaded. “I liked that. I could feel your heart.” 

Merrick gave him one of those shy, genuine smiles that he was sharing with them more and more. “I did, too. May I, uh, ask about the rules here for dating?” 

“You mean in this century, or with all of us?” Merrick gave him a confused look, so Cole just continued, sliding an arm around Merrick’s shoulders to gently encourage him over to the table and benches. They sat down next to each other while Cole spoke. “We’re all involved in different ways. Everyone does what’s right for them. Max and Danny are a couple, I think, but I haven’t asked them and I haven’t eavesdropped! Taylor’s with Alyssa and Eric, and I think with the Princess, as well. Alyssa’s with the Princess, and with me. Everyone does what’s right for them. What matters most of all is that we’re a team. There’s a lot of room for you, too.” 

Merrick’s side was warm against his. Merrick nodded uneasily. “The Princess… ‘dates’ people? She’s allowed to?” 

“Yeah! I’m sure she’d like to date you, too. Or, at least, you could ask her? Don’t worry so much about how proper it is. It’s just us. I haven’t seen her sing with someone, or shove someone excitedly when she doesn’t like them.” 

Merrick laughed. “Perhaps I’ll have to keep away from high places around her.” 

He had a nice, earnest tone to his voice. Cole liked it. 

He had to get through this quickly before any of the others returned. Merrick might not want this to be a public conversation. 

“Maybe take her a gift. Something she likes, something that’d be useful.” What had they used in the jungle as courting gifts? It was good he was here to help Merrick. “Maybe a weapon.” 

* * *

Cole had a quiet word to Alyssa later, and Alyssa had a panicky quiet word to Taylor and then went shopping. The end result was Taylor deftly removing the morningstar from Merrick’s hand and replacing it with a small portable music player. 

* * *

**2014**

"All of us," Gia said firmly. She kept her voice low. It was late, and it was just them at Ernie's plus the new history teacher yawning behind a stack of marking in the corner. But it was still a pretty big deal, what they were discussing. 

Jake scratched his head, hope dawning in his voice. "Really? All of us?" 

Gia placed Emma's drink on the table. A low fat, cherryberry strawberry, with carob chips, but no hot fudge. She smiled at the boys, and put down her own sundae. She pulled out her chair (next to Emma's, of course) to sit down. 

Noah noted, "You and Emma know each other pretty well." 

Emma did a 'ta-dahhh' gesture over the drink, which was exactly right of course. Gia had been best friends with her since they were six! Emma picked it up, long hair falling forward over one shoulder. She sipped with a look of great satisfaction on her face. Then she twirled her straw in her drink as she spoke. "Yes, we do! And all of us do. Troy, what did Jake get on his math homework?"

"Sixty-four percent," Troy said. Eyes twinkling, he pointed his own straw at Gia. His strawberry shake dripped off the end, into his cup. "And how any hours did he spend playing ball when he should've been studying?"

"All of them," Gia laughed. 

Jake made a mock crestfallen face, and licked his ice cream. "So you guys have a point. We do know each other well, and making it... that kind of love wouldn't be a big step."

Noah nodded. "Yeah, not just here. In battle, too. It's, it's a good idea."

Gia and Emma high fived without looking. 

Gia reached out to cover Jake’s hand with hers. He gave her a startled look, but gently put his free hand over the top. “We’ve all saved each other’s bacon so many times. I know it can hurt more if we get closer, but we’re so close already. Our bacon is important. And maybe it’ll help us avoid making heroic sacrifices if we all know how much we need to each other.” 

Troy spluttered, and Noah, grinning, rubbed his back. He then leaned against Troy’s shoulder. “Not that she meant you specifically,” he said.

“I totally did.” 

“…okay, she totally did.” 

“My bacon is no more important than anyone else’s,” Troy protested. “Couldn’t this make it more upsetting if one of us does get hurt?"

Emma shook her head. “But your bacon is also no less important. And we’ll still hate it if someone gets hurt, no matter what.” 

He made a face, then made a mock hangdog face, and chuckled under it. They all reached over to pat his hair, and rub his shoulders. 

“You’re a good team.” 

A quiet voice from the corner. They looked over to see Ms Enrile, with all her marking that’d been scattered over the table a few minutes ago, gathered up in a neat multi-coloured pile in her arms. She smiled at them. 

“Thank you,” Gia said cautiously. How much had she paid attention to? 

Ms Enrile took a few steps closer. Her usual white and black outfit was impeccably clean, as always. “I’m very close to another Yellow with good ideas. We didn’t do it quite the same as you guys, but we went further than just being a team, too. And being a Ranger team is _amazing_.” 

Noah brightened. “You were on a Ranger team?” 

“Wild Force, yes. I’m Alyssa, and Emma, you look great in my suit. We’re all close even now. I wouldn’t change a thing. Just make sure you don’t give each other major weaponry as a courting gift and you’ll be fine.” 

She dropped a hand on Emma’s shoulder, then shifted the weight of her folders and papers, and walked out just as Ernie walked back to the counter. 

“…okay. Is she keeping an eye on us?” Noah wondered. Emma raised her hands in a helpless shrug. 

“Us and our bacon,” Jake said comfortably, and they all laughed. 

It was a start. Gia wasn’t quite sure what it was a start of, but it was a definite start, and she was _delighted._


End file.
